The Crosman Challenger 2009

I have been away from the 10 meter youth scene for over 8 years.  In my day, it was all about the Daisy 888 which was the cat's meow.  I toiled to collect 8 of them for a 4H program I was starting.  Sadly none of my kids ever got interested.  When I left Texas I gave up all the equipment to the next leader of the club.  It was a good experience for me to be able to test out the affordable youth equipment vs. expensive adult equipment.

Crosman Challenger 2009

As a 'retired' youth coach I still get the CMP newsletter "On The Mark" which is always an interesting read.  Short version, there are great shooting sports programs in the South, in the North East, darn little is happening   I noticed that the youth  of today are now holding something different than the red white and blue laminated Daisy 888s.  These new guns are from Crosman.  They are called the CHALLENGER 2009 or just CH2009 pictured on the left set up for Silhouette. (notice the Premier Reticles boosted scope.  Scope is worth 2x the gun!...phew)

Here is a discussion regarding their adoption by youth programs.  I have not seen one in the flesh but from what I read they are superior to the Daisy 888.  The big drawback for youth, they are made for a bigger person in both hand swell and LOP.  Only operate at 2000 PSI vs. serious PCP guns which operate at 3000 PSI.  And, they are $525.  Maybe now you know why CMP is selling manual stroke 853s for $100.  More sophisticated equipment is making them obsolete.  But that does not change the fact they, the 853, are scary accurate for the money.

Just wanted to pass this along so those that might be serious about a real 10 meter gun would have that much more info in the arsenal.  There is much much more to know but this was a start.  If there is more interest I could go into some of the SSP guns.